Pamphlet  CoRect  >ci 
Duke  University  Libraiy 


Cataloged 

SOUIHEm  FAMIHt  RELIEF  FUND  OF  PHILADEIPHIII. 


PROCEEDiNGS  OF  TO^ j^PtING 


CALL  FOR  THE  JlEETING. 


The  Citizens  of  Philadelphia  are  requested  to  meet  at  the  rooms  of 
the  Board  of  Trade  on  Friday  next,  March  15,  at  12  o'clock,  noon,  to 
to  take  measures  for  relieving  the  suffering  people  of  the  South. 

MORTON  McMICHAEL, 

Mayor  of  Philadelphia. 


John  Welsh, 
H.  A.  Boardman, 
Frederick  Fraley, 
Thomas  S.  Newlin, 
John  A.  Brown, 
F.  A.  Drexel, 
Thomas  Mackellar, 
David  S.  Brown, 
Cope  Brothers, 
W,  Butcher  &  Son, 
R.  Patterson  &  Co. 
John  Bobbins, 
Charles  Macalester, 
Morris,  Tasker  &  Co., 
Sharp,  Weiss  &  Co., 
J.  H.  Mitchener  &  Co., 
Malone  &  Co  , 
Baker  &  Hopkins, 
JU.  G.  Mj^tinger  &  Co. 
George  Cookman, 
Henry  Lewis, 
Edmund  Yard  &  Co., 
Pease  &  Baxter, 
A.  Campbell, 
Rene  Guillou, 

Cummins, 
\W.  Arnold, 
Bej 


George  H.  Stuart, 
Davis  N.  Sinn, 
Charles  L.  Sharpless, 
John  G.  Brenner, 

C.  R.  Ross, 
Benj.  T.  Tredick, 
S.  A.  Campbell, 
George  H.  Kirkham, 
M.  Parker  Shortridge, 
J.  J.  Phillips, 

D.  C.  Wharton, 
Wm.  B.  Bullock, 

J  Edward  Bazley, 
James  Long, 
George  Heyl, 
Merrick  &  Sons, 
William  Welsh, 
Jay  Cooke, 
Charles  Camblos, 
Peter  McCall, 
CoflSin  &  Altemus, 
John  B.  Myers  &  Co., 
John  P.  Crozer  &  Sons, 
James  Page, 
Morris,  Wheeler  &  Co., 
L.  Audenreid  &  Co., 
Day,  Huddell  &  Co., 


A.  Whitney  &  Sons, 
James  Steel  &  Co., 
Perot,  Lea  &  Co., 
William  E.  Burk, 
William  Massey, 
Bancroft  &  Co., 
Amos  R.  Little  &  Co., 
D.  &  C.  Kelley, 
A.  E.  Stephens, 
Isaac  S.  Waterman, 
Jacob  Riegel, 
William  C.  Ludwig, 
Thomas  G.  Hood, 
James  Bonbright, 
Richard  Wood, 
A.  H.  Shott, 
David  Young, 
Samuel  E  Stokes, 
H.  E.  Temple, 
Kirk  B.  Wells, 
James  McFadden, 
D.  S.  Wiltburger, 
Edw.  P.  Borden, 
George  Bullock, 
Jos.  W.  Bullock, 
John  0.  James, 
Wm.  C.  Kent, 
Charles  Santee. 


THE  MEETIlSra 


In  pursuance  of  the  foregoing  request,  a  large  and  liighly  respectable 
assemblage  of  the  Citizens  of  Philadelphia  attended  at  12  o'clock,  noon, 
on  March  15,  at  the  Board  of  Trade  Rooms,  No.  505  Chestnut  Street. 

On  motion  of  Wm.  C.  Patterson,  Esq.,  the  Hon.  Morton 
McMiCHAEli,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  was  invited  to  preside. 

Thomas  Mackellar,  Esq  ,  and  Richard  Wood,  Esq.,  were 
appointed  Secretaries. 

MORTON  McMICHAEL,  Esq. 
The  Mayor,  on  taking  his  seat,  said : 

The  object,  gentlemen,  for  which  we  have  assembled  here  is  so 
tersely  and  sufficiently  expressed  in  the  call — "  To  take  measures  for 
the  relief  of  the  suffering  people  of  the  South" — that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  make  any  other  statement  in  regard  to  it. 

I  may  add,  however,  that  both  personally  and  officially  I  most  cor- 
dially approve  of  this  meeting ;  and  I  trust  that  it  will  not  only  give 
utterance  to  the  sympathy  we  all  feel  for  our  suff"ering  Southren 
brethren,  but  that  it  will  adopt  such  measures  as  will  convert  that 
sympathy  into  efficient  practical  action. 


THE  FLOWERS  COLLECIiON 

Pamplilet  Coli&^^ion 
Duke  University  Library 


THE  RESOLUTIONS. 

John  Welsh,  Esq.,  then  submitted  the  following  resolutions : 

1.  The  Citizens  of  Philadelphia,  in  town-meeting  assembled,  are 
deeply  concerned  to  hear  that,  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  the  crops  and 
other  causes,  there  is  a  state  of  famine  pievailing  through  large  por- 
tions of  the  Southern  States.  There  is  cumulative  evidence  to  show 
that  many  thousands  of  our  countrymen  are  at  this  moment  threatened 
with  actual  starvation. 

2.  We  assure  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  South,  of  our  cordial  sympathy 
in  their  sufferings,  and  our  earnest  desire  to  aid  in  mitigating  the  great 
calamity  which  has  overtaken  them. 

3  Representing,  as  we  do,  a  city  which  a  benign  Providence  has 
blessed  with  a  redundant  prosperity,  and  which,  from  the  days  of  Wil- 
liam Penn  until  now,  has  never  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  any  appeal  on  be- 
half of  human  suffering,  we  respectfully  invite  our  fellow-citizens  of 
all  parties,  sects  and  occupations  to  unite  in  a  prompt  and  generous 
effort  for  the  relief  of  our  famishing  countrymen. 

4.  The  following  gentlemen,  to  wit:  Lemuel  Coffin,  J.  Yaughan 
Merrick,  James  H.  Orne,  Charles  Camblos,  Henry  Winsor,  Alfred  Day, 
William  Massey,  Simon  W.  Arnold.  John  0.  James,  T.  G-.  Hood, 
George  L.  Buzby,  James  Long  and  Charles  Wheeler,  are  charged  with 
the  duty  of  appointing  Collecting  Committees  of  the  several  Trades  and 
Professions,  with  a  view  of  carrying  into  effect  the  general  object  of 
this  meeting. 

5.  For  the  purpose  of  securing  a  judicious  and  equitable  distribu- 
tion of  supplies,  all  donations,  whether  of  money  or  provisions,  shall 
be  applied  under  the  direction  of  a  Committee  of  seven,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Chair — it  being  understood  that  these  supplies  are  designed 
for  the  suffering  people  of  the  South,  irrespective  of  all  social^  political, 
or  religious  distinctions. 

6.  His  Honor  the  Mayor  shall  be  ex  officio,  a  member  of  the  several 
committees  named  in  these  proceedings. 

7.  We  respectfully  request  the  Reverend  Clergy  to  bring  this  subject 
to  the  notice  of  their  congregations  at  the  earliest  opportunity;  and  on 
behalf  of  the  proper  Committees,  we  invite  our  fellow-citizens  to  send  in 
.their  contributions  with  the  least  practical  delay- 


JOHN  WELSH,  Esq. 

Mr.  Chairman, — It  might  be  best  to  submit  these  resolutions  in 
silence,  and  let  them,  unaided,  plead  the  cause  of  distant  suffering,  but 
there  is  a  single  thought  to  which,  in  their  support,  I  desire  to  give 
utterance;  of  tke  three  great  scourges  which  the  Almighty,  in  His 
inscrutable  providence,  sometimes  allows  to  afflict  His  rebellious  chil- 
dren— war,  pestilence,  and  famine ;  the  last  alone  is  unknown  to  us 
in  its  reality.  Pestilence  has  been  amongst  us.  It  has  passed  through 
our  homes,  and  we  have  bowed  in  meek  submission.  War,  also,  has 
been  here ;  war  in  its  worst  aspect — a  war  amongst  brethren.  But  we, 
at  least  many  of  us,  were  permitted  to  behold  it  only  in  the  distance, 
away  from  the  sad  spectacle  of  a  battle-field,  its  excited  passions,  and 
indescribable  suffering.  The  gathering  of  armies,  however,  was  in  our 
midst.  We  heard  their  heavy  tramp,  and  saw  their  floating  banners 
and  glistening  arms  when  they  left  us  to  uphold  their  country's  cause ; 
and  when  they  returned  with  their  ranks  decimated  on  the  fields  of 
their  glory,  we  welcomed  them  back  to  their  homes.  In  the  hospitals, 
too,  by  which  our  city  was  surrounded,  we  saw  enough  of  the  sad  con- 
sequences of  war,  in  every  variety  of  suffering,  to  make  one  loath  its 
very  name  ;  and  by  our  firesides  we  have  wept  for  those  whose  vacant 
places  will  long  continue  to  demand  the  tear  of  affection  as  an  offering  to 
their  memory.  But  famine  !  It  is  a  new  thought  to  us.  Who  here  has 
any  idea  of  it  ?  We  cannot  realize  it.  We  have  seen  it  pictured  by  art. 
History  has  told  us  of  it ;  and  of  late,  we  have  heard  of  its  horrors 
among  a  far-off  people,  out  of  whom  oppression  had  wrung  that  elasticity 
of  character  which  is  the  surest  guardian  against  want.  But  famine 
has  never  hitherto  visited  oii^r  land.  We  know  nothing  of  its  sufferings. 
Seed-time  and  harvest,  with  fruitful  seasons,  have  followed  each  other. 
Our  garners  have  been  ever  full,  and  more  than  abundant  our  store. 
Now,  however,  there  comes  a  cry  to  us  from  a  part  of  our  own  land,  in 
the  sunny  South,  whose  plains  and  valleys  and  hillsides  have  been 
hitherto  the  abode  of  luxury — ^-the  cry  of  want — of  famine !  And  who 
is  there  among  us  in  whose  heart  sympathy  is  not  excited — -that  re- 
maining trace  of  Him  in  whose  image  man  was  made,  who  is  Himself 
all  sympathy  ?  Who  will  not  give  of  his  store,  cheerfully,  whether  it 
be  much,  or  whether  it  be  little  ? 


5 


I  care  not  what  the  causes  are  which  have  led  to  this  want.  Be  they 
what  they  may,  sympathy  toward  others  in  distress  is  superior  to  any 
hindrance,  and  will  only  be  allayed  by  supplying  the  needed  help. 
Every  ingenuous  heart  demands  it;  and  I  am  very  sure,  Mr.  Chairman, 
that  when  the  gentlemen  who  are  to  follow  me  shall  have  enforced  the 
resolutions  I  have  presented,  their  unanimous  adoption  will  induce  a 
spontaneous  and  an  abundant  offering  from  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia 
towards  the  wants  of  their  suffering  fellow-countrymen. 

KEY.  HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.D. 

Mr.  Chairman  : — Circumstances  having  put  me  in  connection  with 
the  Conference  out  of  which  this  meeting  has  grown,  I  have  been 
requested  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  object  for  which  we  are 
convened.  I  am  prepared  with  ample  documentary  evidence,  official 
and  unofficial,  to  establish  the  fact  of  wide  spread  and  alarming  desti- 
tution at  the  South.  With  the  recent  action  of  the  United  States 
Senate  before  us,  and  the  testimony  of  General  Howard,  the  Head  of 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  received  within  the  last  forty-eight  hours,  it 
would  be  superfluous  to  consume  the  time  of  the  meeting  in  reading 
the  papers  I  hold  in  my  hand.  It  may  be  assumed,  as  beyond  the 
reach  of  contradiction,  that  within  a  certain  belt  of  territory  covering 
portions  of  the  States  of  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  Mississippi,  there  are  a  half  million  of  people  who  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  starvation.  This  is  the  appalling  calamity  which  ap- 
peals to  our  sympathies  to-day.  We  meet  here,  men  of  all  sects  and 
parties,  upon  a  platform  as  broad  as  our  common  humanity,  to  concert 
measures  of  relief  for  our  afflicted  countrymen.  It  is  justly  observed 
in  one  of  the  resolutions  before  us,  that  "  the  city  of  Philadelphia  has 
never  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  an  appeal  on  behalf  of  human  suffering." 
The  old  Kensington  oak  under  which  William  Penn  framed  his  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  has  long  since  disappeared ;  but  the  good  seed  planted 
by  himself  and  his  associates,  has  continued  to  grow  and  fructify  to 
the  present  hour.  Our  City  has  been  the  very  garden-spot  of  those 
beneficent  virtues  which  were  so  admirably  exemplified  by  the  Founders 
of  this  Commonwealth  :  and  it  will  not  be  found  wanting  in  a  great 
and  sad  emergency  like  that  which  confronts  us  to-day. 


6 


It  may,  indeed,  be  recorded  to  the  honor  of  our  country,  that  we 
have  never  been  indifferent  to  the  sufferings  of  our  fellow  creatures 
even  in  distant  lands.  There  are  gentlemen  present  who  will  recall 
the  period,  now  some  forty  years  gone  by,  when  Greece,  after  being 
desolated  by  a  war  of  Independence,  was  ravaged  by  a  famine  like  that 
which  now  prevails  in  the  Southern  States;  and  ship-load  after  ship- 
load of  provisions  was  sent  from  our  ports  to  their  relief  I  seldom 
think  of  our  gallant  Navy  without  a  feeling  of  pride.  But  never  have 
I  looked  upon  one  of  our  National  ships  with  the  peculiar  emotions 
I  experienced  just  twenty  years  ago,  on  our  being  driven  one  day  by  a 
gale  into  the  Cove  of  Cork,  where  we  passed  in  the  stream  the  James- 
town or  the  Vincennes  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  floating  from  her  mast- 
head, and  loaded  down  to  the  scuppers  with  food  for  the  famishing 
Irish — a  minister  of  wrath  transformed  into  a  herald  of  mercy.  A 
most  grateful  spectacle  it  was,  and  most  honorable  to  our  national 
character,  that  such  a  response  should  be  made  under  the  official 
sanction  of  the  Executive  Department  of  our  Government,  to  the  cry 
of  a  distant  people  perishing  from  famine.  With  the  same  prompt- 
ness did  you  move  to  the  succor  of  the  starving  Portuguese  of  Madeira, 
when  the  tidings  came  to  us  some  years  ago,  that  their  crops  had  failed 
and  famine  was  brooding  over  their  beautiful  Island.  Nay,  even  in 
the  midst  of  the  terrible  war  from  which  we  have  so  lately  emerged, 
the  unwearied  benevolence  of  our  people  sent  generous  supplies  to  the 
needy  operatives  of  Lancashire,  in  f;he  very  heart  of  the  manufacturing 
districts  of  England.  In  none  of  these  cases  have  our  citizens  stopped 
to  ask,  ^'  Of  what  race  are  you  ?  What  language  do  you  speak  ?  At 
what  altars  do  you  worship  V  Enough  that  they  were  sufferers.  This 
was  all  you  cared  to  know.  And  assuredly  it  will  be  enough  to  stir 
your  sympathies  now,  when  this  unwonted  plague  has  lighted  upon 
our  own  shores,  and  its  unhappy  victims  are  our  countrymen  and 
neighbors,  '  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh.'  Wisely  and 
well  do  you  propose,  in  the  terms  of  the  resolutions  just  submitted,  to 
bestow  your  bounty  upon  them,  "  irrespective  of  all  social,  political,  or 
religious  distinctions.'^  In  the  presence  of  a  visitation  like  this,  all 
such  distinctions  sink  into  insignificance.  You  will  not  remember  the 
past.  You  will  not  interrogate  these  vast  throngs  of  sufferers,  as  to 
their  opinions  or  their  acts.    If  the  Priest  and  the  Levite  choose  to-- 


7 


abandon  a  dying  man  because  he  does  not  wear  their  livery  or  talk  in 
the  dialect  of  their  school,  or  even  because  he  may  have  done  things 
worthy  of  rebuke,  you  will  think  only  of  his  peril,  and  hasten  with  the 
good  Samaritan  to  bind  up  his  wounds  and  pour  in  oil  and  wine. 

This,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  the  spirit  which  has  hitherto  controlled  our 
countrymen,  as  it  is  the  temper  inculcated  by  the  Word  of  God.  The 
charity  of  the  Grospel  of  Christ,  is  of  a  lofty  and  catholic  tone.  It 
recognizes  the  universal  brotherhood  of  the  race.  It  spurns  the  sug- 
gestions of  pride,  of  resentment,  of  selfishness;  and  craves  only  the 
high  privilege  of  ministering  to  the  relief  of  human  misery.  And 
here,  as  is  quite  apparent,  the  promptings  of  true  philanthrophy  are 
coincident  with  the  suggestions  of  a  wise  political  philosophy.  For 
the  question  immediately  before  this  meeting,  really  merges  itself  in 
the  broader  question  of  the  entire  future  of  the  United  States. 

It  has  been  often  and  justly  said,  that  the  bitter  war  through  which 
we  have  passed,  was  a  crucible  to  our  national  character.  By  the  favor 
of  God,  that  trial  was  brought  to  an  auspicious  issue :  secession  was 
frustrated  and  rebellion  suppressed.  The  great  problem  has  been  re- 
solved, and  the  issue  determined,  that  hence  forward  we  are  to  remain 
one  people,  living  under  the  same  flag,  recognizing  the  same  institu- 
tions, deferring  to  the  same  authority.  So  far  we  may  fitly  congratu- 
late ourselves  upon  the  result.  But  we  have  exchanged  one  crucible 
for  another.  The  transition  from  war  to  peace  is,  in  some  respects, 
more  critical  than  that  from  peace  to  war.  The  march  to  the  battle- 
field proves  the  soldier's  constancy  and  courage  :  it  is  the  march  home 
that  tests  his  moderation,  his  integrity,  his  reverence  for  law,  his  self- 
control.  The  passions  of  war  lie  upon  the  surface  :  the  calm  virtues  of 
peace  nestle  down  in  the  deep  recesses  of  the  human  breast,  where  they 
are  too  often  overlaid  by  a  mass  of  rubbish — prejudices,  caprices,  and 
resentments,  envenomed  by  these  perverse  tempers  of  ours.  Even  with 
a  people  unused  to  war,  but  proud,  sensitive  and  ambitious,  it  requires 
the  utmost  sagacity  and  prudence  on  the  part  of  those  who  sit  at  the 
helm,  so  to  order  their  intercourse  with  foreign  Cabinets  as  to  prevent 
the  passions  of  the  nation  from  breaking  out  on  slight  pretexts  into 
open  aggression.  And  if  this  danger  waits  upon  the  ordinary  admin- 
istration of  affairs,  it  can  be  no  easy  matter  to  recall  such  a  people 
from  a  state  of  actual  and  prolonged  conflict,  to  the  gentle  arts  of 


4 


8 


peace  and  the  practice  of  its  tranquil  and  beneficent  virtues. 

We  are  all  turning  our  eyes  towards  Washington.  As  American  citi- 
zens we  claim  the  right  of  criticising  or  commending  the  acts  of  our 
rulers.  We  feel  that  we  have  a  right  to  look  to  them  for  such  a 
policy  as  will  show  that  we  are  a  Christian  nation ;  a  policy  which 
shall  tend  to  extinguish  the  animosities  of  the  war,  and  to  bring  back 
the  concord  and  the  prosperity  we  have  lost.  But  if  we  expect  to  see 
this  thoroughly  accomplished  at  Washington,  we  mistake  our  remedy. 
There  are  things  which  lie  beyond  the  range  of  physical  force  and 
which  baffle  legislation.  We  hear  much  about  the  reserved  rights  of 
the  States.  You  and  I,  Sir,  both  of  us,  may  regret  that  Washington 
and  Hamilton  were  not  able  to  carry  out  their  cherished  purpose  of 
making  a  stronger  Central  Government  in  the  outset.  But  we  believe 
that  while  the  States  have  their  reserved  rights,  the  people  have  theirs ; 
and  that  among  these,  besides  the  indefeasible  right  to  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness,  they  have  the  right  to  make  up  quarrels; 
the  right  to  subdue  their  mutual  resentments ;  the  right  to  forget  the 
late  fratricidal  conflict ;  the  right  to  meet  together  and  strike  hands 
across  fields  fertilized  with  precious,  priceless  blood,  and  thus  to  restore 
their  ancient  amity.  These  are  among  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
people;  and  the  specification  may  serve  to  indicate  the  prime  daty 
which  devolves  upon  us  to-day.  The  course  of  events  summons  us 
to  the  grateful  task  of  healing  our  country's  wounds,  and  repairing  the 
broken  chain  of  our  national  fellowship.  And  the  opportunity  brought 
to  our  doors,  is  that  of  fostering  these  aims  by  an  exhibition  of  that 
genuine  benevolence  which  true  humanity  enjoins,  and  true  religion 
inspires. 

A  piercing  cry  of  distress  has  come  to  us  from  the  South.  Our 
sister  cities  of  Baltimore,  New  York  and  Boston,  have  met  it  with  a 
prompt  and  generous  response ;  and  Philadelphia  is  to  decide  to-day 
whether  she  will  be  true  to  her  hereditary  character,  and  do  her 
share  in  this  work  of  philanthropy.  There  certainly  are  hinderances 
in  the  way,  which  may  checli  our  sympathies  if  we  consult  only  our 
native  passions  :  and  the  trial  now  appointed  us  of  Providence  is,  whether 
we  be  capable  of  rising  above  these  antipathies,  to  the  platform  of  a 
higher  and  purer  morality.  Whatever  may  be  suggested  to  the  con- 
trary, no  nation  ever  lost  by  a  display  of  magnanimity  towards  the  van- 


9 


quished.  We  have  a  memorable  illustration  of  this  in  the  history  of 
ancient  Israel.  The  small  and  restless  tribe  of  Benjamin,  after  perpe- 
trating a  monstrous  crime  and  then  defying  the  authority  of  the  Com- 
monwealthj  left  the  question  to  the  arbitrament  of  war.  In  two  bloody 
battles,  they  were  successful.  In  the  third,  they  were  nearly  extermi- 
nated :  twenty-five  thousand  of  them  were  slain,  six  hundred  only  sur- 
vived. The  instant  the  sword  was  sheathed,  the  allies  came  together 
and  with  appropriate  religious  observances,  spent  an  entire  day  in  con- 
trition and  weeping :  "  0  Lord  God  of  Israel,  why  is  this  come  to  pass 
in  Israel,  that  there  should  be  to-day  one  tribe  lacking  in  Israel  ?"  It 
may  be  safely  affirmed  that  during  the  three  thousand  years  and  more, 
which  have  elapsed  since  this  transaction  occurred,  no  man  has  read 
the  narrative  without  consciously  applauding  the  conduct  of  the  victors. 
There  can  be  no  one  in  our  goodly  city  in  whose  bosom  there  is  not 
an  undercurrent  of  sympathy  in  keeping  with  the  whole  tone  of  that 
memorable  scene  at  Mizpeh.  The  qualities  that  shine  out  in  scenes 
like  this,  emit  a  radiance  which  neither  time  nor  change  can  obscure  : 
for  they  address  themselves  to  the  universal  instincts  of  humanity. 
And  evermore  will  it  hold  true,  as  it  has  in  the  past,  that  mankind  will 
commend  a  forbearing  and  merciful  policy  towards  the  conquered. 

What  the  occasion  demands  at  our  hands,  is,  a  display  of  magnanimity 
towards  the  South.  It  may  be  said,  that  it  was  they  themselves  who 
filled  the  cup  of  bitterness  which  has  been  pressed  to  their  lips.  But 
have  they  not  drunk  it  to  the  dregs  ?  And  is  not  this  enough  ?  Is  it 
for  us  upon  whose  cause  a  gracious  Providence  has  smiled,  and  who, 
notwithstanding  our  great  sorrows,  rejoice  in  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  national  authority  throughout 
the  land — is  it  for  us  to  desire  that  this  cup  may  be  filled  again  ?  It 
cannot  be.  It  were  passing  strange  if  a  single  man  could  be  found  in 
this  city  of  William  Penn,  so  little  in  accord  with  the  reigning  spirit 
of  Philadelphia,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  to  waver  in  his  support  of  the 
movement  now  happily  inaugurated  for  the  relief  of  the  South  Those 
writers  who  have  expressed  themselves  in  the  newspapers,  with  a  real 
or  affected  asperity  against  the  movement,  set  at  nought  the  nobler 
principles  of  human  nature,  and  labor  to  keep  asunder  that  which  God 
has  joined  together.  Unquestionably  there  is  more  or  less  bitterness 
of  feeling  at  the  South.    There  are  public  journals  which  indulge  in 


10 


denunciatory  language  towards  us.  There  are  politicians  who  would 
keep  alive  the  old  strife.  But  what  then  ?  Can  any  one  here  be  so 
ignorant  of  history  as  not  to  know,  that  every  war,  and  especially  every 
civil  war,  produces  a  harvest  of  suspicions  and  heart-burnings,  of  crimi 
nations  and  recriminations  ?  These  are  the  legitimate  and  unvarying 
fruits  of  such  a  contest.  It  were  puerile  to  expect  any  other  result, 
at  least,  among  a  people  like  ourselves  As  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
educated  classes  in  the  revolted  States,  they  have  manifested  a  disposi- 
tion to  acquiesce  quietly  in  the  adjudication  of  the  war,  and  to  return 
to  their  allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government.  In  so  far  as  the  ad- 
verse spirit  may  have  revealed  itself,  it  is  not  for  us  to  "  render  evil  for 
for  evil,^'  but  to  overcome  evil  with  good.''  As  a  Christian  nation, 
we  ought  to  be  able  to  rise  superior  to  the  passions  of  war;  to  take 
counsel  of  our  holy  religion ;  and  to  recognize  in  this  critical  hour, 
only  the  suffering  and  danger  of  a  community  precipitated  from  a  con- 
dition of  thrift  and  comfort  into  the  very  jaws  of  famine.  This  is  the 
dictate  of  Christianity.  It  is  no  less  the  demand  of  patriotism.  It  is 
even  enjoined  by  the  consideration  of  self  interest.  They  are  one 
with  ourselves.  The  war  has  decided  that  point.  We  are  henceforth 
to  be  one  nation — to  share  the  same  fortunes ;  to  meet  the  same 
destiny.  It  is  clearly,  then,  for  our  common  welfare,  that  we  be 
one  in  purpose  and  affection :  that  we  banish  our  aversions,  com- 
pose our  quarrels,  and  resume  the  amicable  relations  which  illus- 
trated the  early  days  of  the  Republic.  Not  to  aim  at  this,  were  to 
counterwork  our  own  aspirations  and  jeopard  our  prosperity.  And  the 
true  method  to  compass  it,  is  to  show  them  kindness  This  is  the  wise 
principle  upon  which  a  judicious  father  seeks  to  reclaim  a  prodigal  son. 
This  is  the  principle  which,  as  every  American  feels,  ought  to  have  con- 
trolled the  policy  of  the  British  Government  towards  Ireland.  It  may 
be  no  easy  task  to  restore  the  old  brotherhood  :  but  love  is  stronger 
than  hate.  And  if  the  great  problem  admit  of  a  solution,  we  hold  in 
our  hands,  under  God,  the  means  of  solving  it.  In  any  event,  we  can 
but  make  the  effort.  Whether  we  regard  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  the 
promptings  of  pity,  or  simply  our  own  well-being,  it  behooves  us  to  do 
every  thing  in  our  power  to  stay  this  devastating  curse  and  rescue  the 
famishing  from  death.  This,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  what  you  design  to  do. 
In  the  comprehensive  terms  of  the  resolutions  before  you,  you  propose 


11 


(I  must  repeat  the  words)  to  minister  to  the  relief  of  the  South,  "  irre- 
spective of  all  social,  political  or  religious  distinctions."  This  is  the 
true  ground.  When  the  war  opened,  at  the  sound  of  the  first  gun, 
seventy-five  thousand  men  hastened  to  Washington ;  and  soon  the 
people  rose  up  as  one  man,  and  rushed  to  the  defence  of  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution.  The  times  demand  that  this  marvellous  scene 
be  repeated.  Let  the  people  again  rise  up  as  one  man  at  the  call  of 
patriotism  and  piety,  of  peace  and  charity.  Let  them  go  forth  in  the 
might  of  a  heaven-born  philanthropy,  to  conquer  the  South  by  hind- 
ness,  and  the  sublime  result  will  be  achieved.  Let  this  sentiment  be 
to  us  what  the  symbol  of  the  Cross  was  to  Constantine,  and  we  may 
with  even  greater  confidence  inscribe  his  motto  upon  our  banner,  "In 
hoc  signo  vinces "  In  this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer."  With  this 
banner  you  may  traverse  the  entire  realm  of  the  South,  conquering 
and  to  conquer;"  and  by  God's  blessing,  yonder  noon  tide  sun  will  soon 
pour  down  his  refulgent  beams  upon  a  peaceful  land,  and  a  united  and 
prosperous  people. 


REV.  PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 

The  B,ev.  Phillips  Brooks,  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  made 
a  powerful  and  eloquent  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  Sufferers,  and  urged 
immediate  action ;  his  remarks  elicited  hearty  expressions  of  approval 
from  the  meeting. 

[The  Committee  regret  to  state  that,  having  applied  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Brooks,  for  a  copy  of  his  address,  they  received  a  polite  note  in  reply, 
explaining  the  impossibility  of  his  complying  with  their  request. 
Mr.  Brooks  says,  "  I  must  beg  you  to  excuse  me  from  undertaking  the 
task.  It  would  involve  the  writing  out  of  a  speech  which  was  originally 
made  without  notes,  and  whose  language  I  cannot  attempt  to  recall.  I 
am  sorry  I  cannot  furnish  you  with  what  you  ask."] 

The  resolutions  having  been  read  a  second  time,  were  unanimously 
adopted. 

The  Chairman  then  read  the  list  of  committees,  as  follows : 


12 


COMMITTEE  TO  APPOINT  COLLECTOKS. 

Lemuel  Coffin,  William  Massey, 

J,  V.  Merrick,  Samuel  W.  Arnold;, 

J.  H.  Orne,  John  O.James, 

Charles  CambJos,  Thomas  G.  Hood, 

Henry  Winsor,  James  Long, 

Alfred  Day,  Charles  Wheeler, 


COMMITTEE  TO  SUPERINTEND  DISTRIBUTION. 

John  Welsh,  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.J),, 

Hon.  William  Strong,  Sup.  Ct.,     S.  Morris  Wain, 
George  Whitney,  T,  S.  Newlin, 

Frederick  Fraley, 

James  M.  Aertsen,  Esq.,  was  appointed  Treasurer, 
Adjourned. 


'0- 


In  making  this  appeal  to  their  Fellow-Citizens,  the  Committee  deem 
it  proper  to  correct  a  very  erroneous  opinion,  which  has  obtained 
general  currency.  It  seems  to  be  thought  that  Congress  appropriated 
1.000,000  of  Dollars  for  the  relief  of  the  South.  A  resolution  to  this 
effect  passed  the  Senate.  The  House,  however,  struck  out  the  sum 
named  above,  and  amended  the  Resolution  so  as  to  read  ^'  and  to  that 
end  the  Secretary  of  War  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed,  through 
the  Commissioner  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  to  apply  so  much  as  he 
may  deem  necessary,  of  unexpended  moneys  heretofore  appropriated  to 
supply  freed  men  and  refugees  with  provisions  or  rations.  Provided? 
That  the  expenditure  shall  not  extend  beyond  the  present  appropriations 
already  made  for  the  Freedmen's  Bureau. 

The  contingent  balance  thus  left  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering,  will 
be,  according  to  official  estimates,  utterly  inadequate  to  the  object 
contemplated.  The  later  returns  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  are  en- 
tirely CO  incident  with  the  private  advices  from  all  parts  of  the  South, 
in  representing  the  famine  as  prevailing  over  a  broader  territory,  and 


13 


the  number  of  the  destitute  as  very  much  greater  than  was  supposed 
to  be  the  case  three  months  ago.  This  will  be  made  painfully  apparent 
by  the  subjoined  testimonies,  taken  from  the  ample  files  of  letters  and 
documents,  official  and  personal,  which  have  come  into  the  hands  of 
the  Committee.  Even  since  these  letters  (most  of  them)  were  written, 
still  another  calamity  has  fallen  upon  a  large  tract  of  the  desolated 
region,  viz :  a  storm  of  hail  attended  with  a  blighting  frost,  which  en- 
tirely destroyed  the  fruits  and  vegetables  in  portions  of  South  Carolina, 
Alabama  and  Mississippi.  The  case  is,  beyond  question,  one  of  the 
most  urgent  and  affecting  that  ever  appealed  to  the  kindness  and  sym- 
pathy of  a  Christian  people. 

The  Committee  take  pleasure  in  adding,  that  the  prompt  liberality 
of  their  townsmen  has  enabled  them  to  send  three  thousand  bushels  of 
Corn  to  each  of  the  States  of  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and 
Alabama;  and  these  supplies  have  already  reached  their  respective 
destinations. 

JOHN  WELSH, 

Chairman, 


I 


14 


HON.  JOHN  A.  BINGHAM,  H.  REPS. 

Speech  lExtracts.'] 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
common  Government  of  this  country  there  are  men  women  and  chil- 
dren who  are  suffering  from  famine,  lifting  up  their  haggard  faces, 
stretching  forth  their  skinny  fingers,  and  asking  leave  to  eat  of  the 
crumbs  that  fall  from  your  well  supplied  tables.  ^'  Tell  it  not  in  Gath  ; 
publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon/'  that  the  American  Congress, 
having  the  control  of  such  resources  as  never  before  acknowledged  the 
sway  of  any  other  Government,  will  permit  sixty  thousand  of  their 
countrymen  to  perish  lor  bread  within  the  limits  of  their  own  juris- 
diction. 

Sir,  I  think  no  man  living  in  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the  serene 
light  of  Christian  revelation,  can  question  the  propriety  of  feeding  the 
poor,  or  can  stop  to  haggle  or  inquire  whether  the  man  famishing  at 
his  door  has  been  his  friend  or  his  enemy. 

He  will  not  forget  the  Divine  teaching  of  our  Master,  whose  intense 
holiness  shed  majesty  over  the  manger  and  the  straw;  who  by  his  own 
lips  commands  us  to  love  our  enemies,  and  by  the  tongue  of  his  apos- 
tle enjoins,  "  If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if  he  thirst,  give  him 
drink." 

Sir,  you  may  apply  in  the  day  of  war  the  iron  rule  of  war,  and  say  that 
the  innocent  and  unoffending  in  the  beleaguered  city  shall  perish  with 
the  guilty ;  but  when  war's  dread  alarm  has  ended,  as  happily  it  has 
with  us,  when  the  broken  battallions  of  rebellion  have  surrendered  to 
the  victorious  legions  of  the  Republic,  let  no  man  stand  within  the 
forum  of  the  people  and  utter  the  horrid  blasphemy  that  you 'shall  not 
have  regard  for  the  famishing  poor,  that  you  will  not  give  a  cup  of 
water  to  him  that  is  ready  to  perish,  in  the  name  of  our  Master,  that 
you  shall  not  even  relieve  the  wants  of  those  who  have  never  offended 
against  the  laws.  The  unoffending  little  children  are  not  enemies  of 
your  country  or  of  mine ;  the  crime  of  treason  is  not  upon  their  souls. 
Surely,  surely  they  are  not  to  be  denied  your  care  The  great  French 
patriot,  Victor  Hugo,  banished  from  the  Empire  for  his  love  of  liberty, 
gathered  little  children  around  him  in  his  exile  at  Guernsey,  and  fed 
them  from  his  own  table,  uttering  the  judgment  of  our  common  hu- 
manity in  its  best  estate :  "  Little  children  at  least  are  innocent,  for 
God  wills  it  so." 

Mr.  Chairman,  if  their  widows  and  children  are  not  already  suffi- 
ciently provided  for,  in  God's  name  provide  for  them  abundantly.  I 
am  ready  to  vote  any  additional  needed  relief  to  them.  I  have  voted 
hitherto,  I  know,  ten-fold  the  supplies  to  them  that  are  proposed  in  this 
resolution.  If  gentlemen  will  take  the  pains  to  make  the  computation 
it  will  be  found  that  this  joint  resolution  provides  only  to  the  amount 
of  a  fraction  over  eighteen  dollars  per  capita  to  save  sixty  thousand 
people  from  destitution  during  the  space  of  five  months. 


15 


This  is  the  head  and  front  of  its  offending.  Do  not,  then,  I  pray 
you,  ask  that  this  Grovernment  shall  degrade  itself  in  the  presence  of 
the  civilized  world  by  refusing  supplies  to  its  own  citizens  who  are 
famishing  for  bread,  and  stop  to  inquire  of  the  starving  thousands 
whether  they  were  friends  or  enemies.  Sir,  you  cannot  discriminate, 
if  you  would,  between  friends  and  enemies,  when  famishing  men  ask 
for  bread. 


CIRCULAR. 

AID  FOR  THE  SOUTH. 

GENERAL  F.  D.  SEWALL 

Executive  Committee,  ] 
Boston,  3larch  ]  2th,  1S67.  \ 

General  F.  D.  Sewall,  a  native  of  Maine,  Adjutant-General  and 
Inspector-General  on  the  Staff  of  Major-General  Howard,  was  in  this 
City  (Boston),  to-day. 

He  informs  us,  from  personal  observation,  that  destitution  to  a  great 
extent  prevails  in  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  the  western  portions  of  North 
and  South  Carolina.  In  the  Northern  Counties  of  Alabama  and 
Georgia  extreme  want  exists  among  the  poorer  classes  of  whites,  and 
especially  in  the  families  of  widows. 

General  Sewall  attributes  the  present  distress  to  the  failure  of  the 
crops  last  season,  either  from  drought  on  the  want  of  implements  of 
husbandry  and  not  to  any  indisposition  to  work. 

The  present  suffering  must  continue  until  a  crop  is  made  which  will 
not  be  until  August  1st,  1867. 


RESOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  FAMINE 
RELIEF  COMMISSION,  NEW  YORK. 

Whereas,  The  Southern  Famine  Relief  Commission  is  advised  by 
Major-General  Howard,  not  to  relax  its  efforts  in  obtaining  contribu- 
tions from  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  on  account  of  the  pro- 
posed appropriation*  by  Congress,  the  destitution  being  so  wide-spread 
and  appalling  as  to  demand  all  that  can  be  done  for  its  relief,  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  Commmission  earnestly  request  the  clergymen  of 
all  denominations  throughout  the  Northern  States  to  join  in  a  simula- 
neous  appeal  for  contributions 


*  This  appropriation  was  not  made. 


16 


LETTER  OF 

MAJ.  GEN.  GEO.  H.  THOMAS. 

Louisville,  Ky.  \ 
March  29.  ) 

Mr.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Chicago,  111. 

Dear  Sir, — I  received  your  favor  of  the  17th  inst.  this  morning, 
for  which  I  am  much  obliged,  as  it  will  enable  me  to  point  out  a  loca- 
lity in  Georgia  and  Alabama  where  the  people  on  both  sides  of  the 
question  at  present  dividing  the  country  are  in  extreme  want  of  pro- 
visions, and  many  who  have  means  to  do  so  will  be  compelled  to  quit 
their  homes,  unless  they  can  get  subsistence  enough  to  enable  them 
to  make  crops  this  year. 

The  people  of  Carroll,  Harrison,  Polk,  Paulding,  Campbell,  Corveta, 
and  Heard  Counties,  Georgia,  and  Kandolph,  Calhoun,  and  Cherokee 
Counties,  Alabama,  are  represented  to  me  as  not  having  provisions  to 
last  them  until  May  next;  and  great  numbers  who  have  the  means  to 
move,  will  be  compelled  to  do  so,  unless  they  can  procure  provisions 
from  abroad.  All  classes  of  the  citizens  are  alike  destitute,  the  rich 
as  well  as  the  poor;  and  both  must  starve  if  they  remain  in  the  country, 
unless  provisions  are  sent  to  them.  The  rich  are  perfectly  willing  to 
purchase,  if  any  one  will  send  them  provisions,  and  wait  for  them  to 
gather  in  their  crops  before  demanding  payment. 

By  aiding  these  people  I  know  you  will  be  doing  good  service  in 
relieving  distress,  which  is  common  throughout  the  South,  and  will 
also  be  giving  encouragement  to  people  who  will  appreciate  the  relief 
afforded  them  in  their  time  of  need,. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

GEOEGE  H.  THOMAS. 

P.  S. — Corn  and  bacon  are  articles  most  essential,  as  the  people  ab- 
solutely need  something  to  enable  them  to  remain  at  home  and  culti- 
vate the  crops. 

Anything  sent  to  Mr.  W.  H.  McDaniel,  Carroll  County,  Georgia, 
via  Newman,  Georgia,  on  the  Atlanta  &  West  Point  Railroad,  will 
reach  him  safely.  He  is  the  authorized  Agent  of  the  citizens  of  Carroll 
County.  I  can  send  you  the  names  of  agents  for  the  other  counties, 
should  you  desire  them.  It  will  be  necessary  to  write  to  those  counties, 
however,  to  get  the  other  names. 

G.  H.  T. 


17 


NORTH  CAEOLINA. 

KEY.  DRURY  LACY,     D.  . 

[extract.] 

Raleigh  2lst  March,  1867. 

The  famine  chiefly  prevails  througli  certain  Counties  forming  a  tier 
across  the  State,  north  and  south,  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles  west 
of  Raleigh.  Through  those  Counties,  especially  as  you  go  towards  South 
Carolina,  the  drought  was  most  destructive.  I  have  been  told  by  several 
persons,  that  there  were  many  farmers  in  Anson,  Union,  Stanly,  Ashe 
and  Cabarrus,  &c.,  who  did  not  make  as  much  corn  as  they  planted 
for  seed. 

The  suffering  through  the  Counties  just  named  is  great,  in  some 
neighborhoods,  heart-rending.  Indeed  there  is  great  difficulty  in  living 
in  almost  all  the  State,  both  from  the  general  drought  and  from  the 
removal  of  corn  wherever  it  can  possibly  be  spared  for  those  in  greater 
destitution.  It  is  thought  that  a  million  bushels  of  corn  would  not  more 
than  supply  the  actual  wants  of  the  people. 

JOHN  A.  YOUNG,  ESQ. 

[extract.] 

Charlotte,  N.  C.  ) 
March         1867.  j 

The  great  destitution  is  in  the  Counties  of  Union,  Stanly  and  Ansoo, 
N.  C,  and  the  District  of  Lancaster  and  the  Districts  lying  between 
that  and  Columbia,  S.  C.  I  know  that  the  destitution  in  that  region 
is  extreme,  and  have  no  doubt  that  many  instances  of  imminent  danger 
of  starvation  exists.  These  people  are  perfectly  dependent  and  can 
only  wait  to  be  fed  by  agencies  which  they  cannot  personally  reach. 
This  information  we  have  been  in  possession  of  here,  and  have  been 
directing  our  efforts  to  their  relief.  Say  to  your  friends  who  are  moved 
with  compassion  for  the  famishing  poor  of  this  desolated  region  as 
given  above,  that  it  is  an  opportunity  afforded  them  for  exhibiting  the 
spirit  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  that  in  exercising  it  they  will  receive 
the  blessings*of  perishing  women  and  children,  and  what  is  of  more 
importance,  a  heavenly  reward  for  the  performance  of  a  Christian 
charity. 


2 


18 


SOUTH  CAROLINA, 

aOYERNOR  ORR. 
Letter  to  Daniel  M.  Zimmerman,  Esq.^  Farmers^  and  Mechanics^  Na- 
tional BanJcj  Philadelphia. 
[extract.] 

Executive  Department,  ] 
Columbia,  -S.  March  mth,  1867,  j 
To  subsist  our  population  until  the  1st  of  J uly  will  require,  in  my 
opinion,  the  importation  of  not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  corn.  I  am  sure  that  I  do  not  exaggerate  the  necessities 
of  the  poor,  white  and  colored,  when  I  say  that  at  least  one  hundred 
thousand  bushels  will  be  required  for  gratuitous  distribution  among 
them.  Those  who  were  formerly  wealthy,  and  had  the  means  of  re- 
lieving this  class,  are  in  most  cases  themselves  reduced  to  poverty 
and  overwhelmed  by  past  indebtedness.  Hence,  comparatively  few 
persons  in  this  State  are  now  able  to  extend  charity  to  their  suffering 
neighbors. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  scarcity  of  grain,  I  went  on  a  visit  to  the 
District  of  Abbeville  during  the  present  week.  I  found  that  the  con 
current  testimony  of  all  intelligent  gentlemen  was  that  there  was  not 
an  excess  of  three  weeks'  supply  of  corn  for  the  population  in  the 
district.  This  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  best  cotton  growing  dis- 
tricts in  the  State,  but  the  cotton  crop  has  been  unusually  short  there 
as  well  as  elsewhere  in  South  Carolina.  Some  of  the  planters  and 
farmers,  from  the  proceeds  of  the  last  year's  crop,  are  able  to  sup- 
ply themselves  with  grain,  but  many  have  neither  corn  nor  the  means 
to  purchase.  This^  too,  was  one  of  the  districts  not  ravaged  by  either 
of  the  armies  during  the  war. 

In  portions  of  the  districts  of  Barnwell,  Edgefield,  Orangeburg, 
Lexington,  Richland,  Fairfield,  Chester,  Union,  York,  Anderson,  Ab- 
beville, Lancaster,  Kershaw,  Sumter,  Clarendon,  Chesterfield,  Marl- 
boro', Williamsburg  and  Horry  the  destitution  is  very  great,  and  it 
is  difficult  to  determine  in  which  one  of  them  the  wants  are  most 
pressing. 

If  your  citizens  should  decide  on  affording  relief,  the  contributions 
may  be  shipped  to  General  R.  K.  Scott,  commanding  District  of  South 
Carolina,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  with  instructions  that  he  shall  co-operate 
with  me  in  the  distribution  of  the  same,  in  such  localities  as  we  may 
agree  are  most  needy. 

Any  aid  rendered  will  be  most  gratefully  received,  and  will  be  faith- 
fully dispensed  among  those  whose  necessities  are  greatest. 
I  am  very  truly,  dear  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  L.  ORR. 
Governor  of  South  Carolina. 


19 


[Richland  District,  South  Carolina.] 

REY.  WM.  MARTIN. 
(>S'.  C.  Conference.') 
[extract.] 

Columbia,  S.  C.  \ 
31arch  26th,  1867.  j 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  actual  famine,  and  unless  help  comes 
freely  and  speedily,  very  great  suffering  will  ensue,  and  many  must 
perish.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  must  be  had  for 
gratuitous  distribution  to  prevent  starvation.  There  are  many  widows, 
orphans,  and  disabled  men,  who  must  depend  on  charity  alone  for 
support;  and  as,  in  the  present  condition  of  our  country,  without 
money  and  without  credit,  there  can  be  no  regular  public  system  of 
charity,  they  have  no  one  to  whom  they  can  look  for  help  but  their 
Christian  fellow- creatures. 

On  my  pension  list  for  Richland  District,  are  the  names  of  428 
persons,  heads  of  families  most  of  them  widows,  representing  1359 
persons,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  persons  entirely  incapable  of  supporting 
themselves.  Richland  is  one  of  the  most  suffering  districts,  but  there 
are  three  or  four  others  equally  destitute,  and  many  rank  only  second 
to  it. 

On  the  very  worst  days  of  our  recent  severe  winter,  I  have  seen 
scores  of  women,  scantily  covered  with  rags,  wan  and  pale  from  star- 
vation, walk  twenty  miles,  and  gratefully  receive  half  a  bushel  of  corn 
and  carry  it  home  on  their  heads  to  their  starving  children. 

REY.  A.  F.  DICKSON,  D.  D. 
(^Orangeburg,  S.  C.) 
[extract.] 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  how  have  these  helpless  and  penniless  persons 
held  out  so  long  ?  How  have  they  been  supported  until  now  1  Some 
of  them  have  only  of  late  sunk  down  into  the  slough.  But  the  proper 
answer  is,  because  of  the  generosity  and  unfearing  faith  of  neighbors 
only  a  little  less  poor.  Why  I  can  produce  the  man  who,  last  year, 
when  he  had  but  twelve  bushels  of  corn  for  his  own  large  family,  and 
no  assurance  of  a  farther  supply,  fed  it  out  to  his  poorer  neighbors  at 
the  rate  of  a  quart  per  day. 

"  There  is  an  uncomplaining  meekness,  a  modest  silence,  an  unwilling- 
ness to  crowd  one  another  out  of  help — a  deferring  to  each  other's 
needs,  that  affects  me  profoundly. 

"  I  have  dwelt  on  the  facts'  here  because  I  know  them.    But  one 


20 

has  reached  me  to-day,  from  a  distance,  that  may  be  relied  on.  Rev. 
J.  N.  Craig,  Lancaster  C.  H.,  lately  said  that  he  could  name  fifty-two 
families  within  his  personal  knowledge  who  had  no  means  of  living. 

"  Things  are  not  yet  at  their  worst.  There  are  yet  four  months  unto 
the  harvest — more  than  four  to  any  harvest  that  will  materially  relieve 
the  poor.  If  we  have  not  large  help  from  abroad,  it  seems  certain  that 
many  must  perish." 

REV.  J.  0.  LINDSAY. 

(Abbeville  District.') 

There  is  a  large  proportion  of  widows  with  helpless  children,  many 
of  whom  are  without  food  except  when  furnished  by  kind  neighbors 
who  themselves  are  much  straitened  to  supply  their  own  families. 
When  I  was  at  home  a  few  weeks  since,  I  was  appealed  to  repeatedly 
by  families  for  a  few  bushels  of  corn,  who  assured  me  that  without  it 
they  could  not  get  through  the  coming  spring.  All  working  animals 
are  much  reduced,  and  in  bad  condition  to  cultivate  the  crop  of  the 
present  year. 

Famine  is  thus  knocking  at  the  door  of  many  households  unused  to 
want.  Stripped  and  peeled  by  the  desolation  of  war,  and  famishing 
under  the  power  of  a  mysterious  but  ever  righteous  Providence,  our 
people  stretch  their  hands  to  more  favored  regions  for  help.  They 
ask  for  bread ;  they  do  not  expect  the  luxuries  ur  even  many  of  the 
comforts  of  life ;  they  appeal  for  only  what  will  ward  off  the  cravings 
of  hunger. 

In  reference  to  the  number  of  our  people  who  are  proper  objects  of 
charity  I  cannot  give  definite  information.  I  think  I  do  not  exaggerate 
when  I  say  that  four  hundred  families  in  one  district  of  Abbeville  need 
help,  and  that  five  thousand  bushels  of  corn  would  be  for  them  a  very 
meagre  supply.  Many  of  the  other  districts  are  in  a  condition  equally 
deplorable,  and  in  some  the  destitution  is  even  greater. 

J.  K.  WITHERSPOON,  Esq. 
[extract.] 

Camden,  S.  C.  | 
February  19,  1867. j 

What  is  done,  should  be  done  promptly,  as  many  are  now  on  the 
very  verge  of  the  grave  from  starvation. 

Funds  for  the  aged  and  iofirm  of  the  colored  race  should  be  raised 
as  well  as  for  others.  In  my  own  neighborhood,  I  know  several  old 
gray-haired  Christian  pilgrims  among  this  race  that  uncomplainingly 
eating  only  a  crust  of  bread,  and  returning  thanks  to  God  for  it,  are 
from  hunger  hurrying  on  to  the  tomb,^not  knowing  what  it  is  to  say, 
"  I  have  enough  to  eat." 


21 


JOSEPH  H.  DULLES,  Esq. 
[extract.] 


Philadelphia, 


A^ril  1867 


John  Welsh,  Esq.,  Chairman :  , 

I  would  state,  without  goicg  into  the  nimierous  details  of  suffering, 
communicated  tome,  that  from  extensive  correspondence  with  persons 
in  various  parts  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  gentlemen  whose  char- 
acter and  means  of  information,  render  their  statements  and  opinions 
altogether  reliable,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  destitution  is  absolute  and 
extreme  in  every  part  of  that  State  from  which  I  have  heard.  Expres- 
sions such  as  these,  enforced  by  details  of  individual  suffering,  are  fre- 
quent, "  Be  assured,  Dear  Sir,  that  our  poor  are  at  this  time  in  great 
want,  and  many  must  perish  without  speedy  relief.^' 

One  letter  says,  "  with  all  the  aid  we  may  receive  in  this  State,  many 
will  perish  before  a  crop  can  be  gathered.  It  is  heart-rending  to  hear 
the  pressing  appeals  for  food  from  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  this 
District." 

Another  letter  says,  "  Everybody  here  who  is  making  a  little  beyond 
mere  support,  is  borne  down  by  the  crowds  of  helpless  ones  that  cling 
to  them,  and  have  no  other  place  to  cling.'^ 


John  Welsh,  Esq.,  Chairman,  &c.  : 

Dear  Sir — I  had  an  interview  to-day  with  Grovernor  Jenkins,  of 
G-eorgia.  He  was  too  much  pressed  for  time  to  remain  in  town  for 
the  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  distribution  this  evening,  which  he 
deeply  regretted.  The  following  are  the  essential  facts  he  communi- 
cated to  me : 

The  stress  of  the  famine  prevails  in  the  counties  around  Atlanta,  in 
what  is  known  as  "Cherokee  Georgia."  The  Legislature  last  year 
appropriated  8200,000  to  the  relief  of  the  suffering,  all  of  which  was 
expended. 

The  appropriation  for  1867  is  8100,000,  as  large  a  sum  as  the  con- 
dition of  their  finances  would  warrant  them  in  voting.  This  will  go 
but  a  little  way  in  supplying  their  necessities.  The  destitution  is 
fifty  per  cent,  greater  this  year  than  the  last.  Sixty  thousand  whites 
and  thirty  thousand  blacks  will  require  aid  until  next  September,  There 
is  much  more  suffering  now  among  the  whites  than  among  the  blacks. 
Their  widows  and  orphans  are  more  numerous.    They  have  received 


GEORGIA. 


.  Philadelphia,  March  26th. 


22 


less  assistance  from  abroad,  and  the  colored  people  are  more  generally 
engaged  as  laborers  by  farmers  and  others,  who  provide  for  their  sup- 
port. Georgia  will  need  all  the  food  that  can  be  furnished  by  the  gene- 
rous kindness  of  the  citizens  of  other  States. 

Supplies  have  usually  been  placed  at  the  joint  disposal  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  and  the  U.  S.  officer  in  command  of  the  Military 
District  of  Georgia,  and  distributed  under  their  careful  supervision — 
an  arrangement  which  has  given  general  satisfaction. 

Submitting  these  facts  for  the  information  of  my  brethren  of  the 
Committee  on  Distribution, 

I  am,  &c., 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 

LETTER  TO  JOHN  0.  JAMES,  Esq. 

Atlanta,  Ga  ,  March  1867. 

I  am  rejoiced  to  learn  that  you  Philadelphians  are  adopting  measures 
to  relieve  the  suffering  people  of  the  South.  Oh  !  if  you  could  but 
see  the  poor  famished  creatures  that  almost  hourly  come  to  our  doors, 
begging  for  cast-off  clothing,  even  for  a  crust  of  bread  or  anything 
that  will  assist  to  sustain  life,  it  would  indeed  arouse  you  all  to  action. 
We  who  have  heretofore  been  able  to  give  have  it  no  longer  in  our 
power  to  do  so,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  money,  and  are  forced  to  turn 
them  away  without  aid,  as  painful  as  it  is.  This  is  the  grand  ren- 
dezvous for  that  class  of  people  within  a  circuit  of  one  hundred  miles 
or  more,  consequently  the  demand  for  charity  is  unlimited. 

You  can  see  upon  the  streets,  almost  any  hour  of  the  day,  poor  half- 
famished  women,  perhaps  with  infants,  with  a  small  load  of  wood, 
drawn  by  one  poor  ox  or  cow,  which  will  bring  from  one  dollar  to  a 
dollar  and  a  half.  They  come  from  a  distance  which  requires  two  or 
three  days  to  make  the  trip.  The  proceeds  are  invested  in  corn  and 
meat,  and  if  they  succeed  in  begging  a  little  additional,  can  subsist 
their  families  until  they  can  return  again.  In  this  way  very  many  of 
the  people  through  the  country  have  lived  for  months.  It  is  a  com- 
mon sight  to  witness  them  coming  in  from  miles,  barefoot  and  almost 
naked,  with  their  little  sacks,  begging  for  corn.  Men,  too,  are  here 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  hunting  work ;  but  not  sufficient  em- 
ployment can  be  found  for  half  of  them,  the  only  alternative  is  to 
beg.  And  but  for  the  assistance  from  abroad  hundreds  would  perish 
in  our  streets. 

Hundreds  of  large  families  are  living  in  tents  and  huts  in  the 
suburbs,  entirely  dependent  upon  charity.  It  is  impossible  for  them 
to  find  work.  Most  of  them  are  widows  from  neighboring  towns, 
destroyed  during  the  war. 


23 


ALABAMA. 

Executive  Department,  \ 
State  of  Alabama.  j 

Montgomery/,  March  19th,  1867. 

Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.  D. 

My  Dear  Sir, — The  late  disastrous  civil  war  left  the  people  of 
Alabama  in  greatly  changed  circumstances  and  condition.  Thousands 
of  our  good  people,  before  the  war,  in  comfortable  and  independent 
circumstances  were  reduced  to  extreme  poverty  and  want.  By  reliable 
statistics  it  has  been  ascertained,  the  State  lost  on  the  field  of  battle 
and  otherwise,  not  less  than  forty  thousand  of  her  best  young  and 
middle-aged  men ;  besides  fully  half  that  number  were  maimed  and 
disabled  for  life,  many  of  whom  have  since  died.  We  estimate  that 
fully  one  third  of  the  sixty  thousand  were  married  men,  and  that  they 
left  an  average  of  three  helpless  children,  making  in  the  aggregate 
twenty  thousand  widows  and  sixty  thousand  orphans,  three-fourths  of 
whom  are  objects  of  charity.  Besides  the  loss  of  husbands  and  fathers, 
these  families  were  stripped  by  the  armies  of  everything  necessary  to 
maintain  life.  To  provide  the  means  of  living  for  this  large  popula- 
tion of  dependent  destitute  people  has  been  no  little  part  of  the  labors 
and  responsibilities  of  this  Department.  In  aid  of*  the  Grovernor,  he 
has  associated  with  him,  a  State  Commissioner  whose  duty  it  is  to 
look  after  and  provide  for  the  destitute.  That  enterprising  officer  is 
now  in  this  chamber,  just  returned  from  a  journey  through  the  moun- 
tain districts  of  north  Alabama,  and  reports  very  great  destitution  and 
suffering  from  want  of  food.  We  can  supply  bread  alone,  and  not  one 
third  of  the  actual  necessities  of  the  poor  is  supplied. 

The  National  Government  and  Oharitable  Associations  in  neighbor- 
ing States  and  cities  are  doing  much  to  aid  us ;  but  all  this  is  entirely 
inadequate  to  the  necessities  of  the  destitute. 

I  frequently  receive  from  abroad  liberal  contributions  of  corn  and 
money,  which  with  the  aid  of  the  Commissioners,  I  use  in  such  a  way 
as  to  do  the  largest  amount  of  good  to  the  greatest  number. 

Should  your  good  people  be  pleased  to  mak'e  a  free  will  offering  for 
purposes  mentioned,  I  promise  you  the  same  shall  be  so  used  as  to  give 
great  relief  to  the  suffering  poor.  Any  contributions  from  you  will  be 
very  thankfully  acknowledged. 

Very  truly  yours, 

K.  M.  PATTON,  Governor  of  Alabama, 


5599 


COMMITTEE  ON  DISTEIBUTIOM. 

JOHN  WELSH,  Chairman,  218  S.  Del.  Av. 

Eev.  HENKY  a.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D.,  1311  Spruce. 

FREDERICK  FRALEY,  Schuylkill  Nav.  Co  ,  417  Walnut. 

THOMAS  S.  NEWLIN,  337  Market. 

WILLIAM  STRONG-,  Supreme  Court  of  Pa.,  2043  Walnut. 

S.  MORRIS  WALN,  128  S.  Del.  Av. 

GEORGE  WHITNEY,  CallowMll  and  IGth. 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE  ON  COLLECTIONS. 

LEMUEL  COFFIN,  Chairman,  220  Chestnut. 

J.  VAUGHAN  MERRICK,  430  Washington  Av. 

WM.  C.  PATTERSON,  411-423  South  Front. 

JOHN  0.  JAMES,  233-241  North  3d. 

CHARLES  W^HEELER,  Central  Nat'l.  Bank,  109  South  4th. 

WILLIAM  MASSEY,  Filbert  and  10th. 

HENRY  LEWIS,  238  Chestnut. 

JOSEPH  B.  MYERS,  1222  Arch.  . 

The  Executive  Committee  will  attend  daily  at  .  the  Board  of  Trade 
Rooms,  No.  505  Chestnut  Street,  at  1  o'clock. 

Contributions  may  Ira  sent  to  any  member  of  the  above  Committees, 
or  to 

JAMES  M.  AERTSEN,  Treasurer, 
S.  E.  Corner  of  Dock  and  Walnut. 

>  Communications  may  be  addressed  to 

CHARLES  J.  aOBRECHT,  Secretary, 

Board  of  Trade  Rooms,  No.-  505  Chestnut. 


